BEST GREEN BUSINESS: IO Agri - Turning challenges to assets
“Our mission is to decarbonise agriculture,” says IO Agri’s Sandra Thompson, conceding “it’s a big ask”.
Agriculture was responsible for 37.8% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Ireland in 2023, according to the EPA, thus the sector is key if we are to meet our emissions targets. IO Agri of Canningstown has a patented system, which takes this global GHG challenge and turns it into a valuable asset for farmers.
Co-founded in 2018 by husband and wife team, Sandra and Shane O’Reilly, the company’s initial focus was on providing agritech solutions to the pig and poultry sector.
“A downturn in the market came around 2020,” recalls Sandra. “We saw planning applications being refused by local authorities because of greenhouse gas emissions. That made us pivot and our mission now is to reduce those gases coming from the animal housing units.
“A huge amount of gases comes from these units; ammonia, CO2, nitrogen, hydrogen and they are all being blown out into the atmosphere. Our system traps those gases and allows us to sell them on. Ammonia is the second most widely produced commodity chemical, globally.”
Their system has been developed and trialled at their R&D centre constructed in 2020 where the system has been independently analysed and certified.
“One of our main principles in IO Agri when we bring climate change solutions to the farming community is that we do not increase operational costs, but create an additional revenue stream for the farmer, so when we trap these gases we then sell them on, for example to fertiliser companies which they can use as an ingredient or to resell as clean ammonia and green hydrogen.”
IO Agri sees an opportunity to supply intensive agri farms, including beef and dairy systems on the continent, for example in Denmark, with their European distribution network.
With the Irish climate becoming increasingly wet, forcing cattle to be housed in sheds for much more of the year, the company anticipates much demand for its system in the future in the Irish context too.
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EMAIL: info@ioagri.ie
WEB: www.ioagri.ie